Loyalty incentive program using transaction cards

• US 9,665,880 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2012
• Issued: 05/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Tiku, Sripriya V., Aloni, Ruth L., Axelrod, Benzion T., Bowman, Jean L., Funda, Jack J., Polon, Jonathan S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Luis A
• Application Number:
  US13/476,910
• Publication Number:
  US 20120226534A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,835 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1438, 705 1434, 705 1436, 705 143, 705 1417, 705 141, 705 39, 705 261
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]

Abstract

A system and method provide rewards or loyalty incentives to card member customers. The system includes an enrolled card member customer database, an enrolled merchant database, a participating merchant offer database and a registered card processor. The registered card processor receives a record for charge for a purchase made with an enrolled merchant by an enrolled card member customer and uses the record of charge to determine whether the purchase qualifies for a rebate credit in accordance with a discount offer from the enrolled merchant. If the purchase qualifies for a rebate credit, the registered card processor provides the rebate credit to an account of the enrolled card member customer. The system provides a coupon-less way for merchants to provide incentive discounts to enrolled customers.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

associating, by a reward card engine of a computer based system, a registration identifier with a transaction account,

wherein the transaction account is associated with a rewards program based on transaction account identifying information and the transaction account satisfying eligibility criteria, and

wherein the registration identifier indicates that the transaction account is associated with the rewards program;

creating, by an offer registration system of the computer based system, active offers in response to receiving offer parameters and merchant information from one or more merchants,

wherein the active offers and the offer parameters are stored in an offer database;

associating, by the offer registration system of the computer based system, the active offers with the transaction account,

wherein the active offers are associated with the transaction account based on the offer parameters;

receiving, by the computer based system, transaction information for a transaction at the merchant;

determining, by the computer based system, that the transaction information is associated with the registration identifier;

determining, by the computer based system, that the transaction is associated with the transaction account and the rewards program based on the registration identifier and the transaction information;

authorizing, by the computer based system, the transaction with the merchant,

wherein the authorization is based on an amount of available credit associated with the transaction account;

reducing, by the computer based system, the amount of available credit for the transaction account by a transaction amount included with the authorization;

receiving, by the computer based system, the transaction information for the transaction from the merchant as part of a settlement operation for the transaction between the merchant and a transaction account issuer;

determining, by the computer based system, the merchant from which the transaction was initiated;

generating, by the computer based system and in response to the settlement operation, a list of the one or more merchants with the active offers which is a subset of the active offers from the one or more merchants;

analyzing, by the computer based system, the merchant against the list of the one or more merchants with the active offers;

analyzing, by the computer based system, the transaction information to determine that the transaction satisfies the offer parameters for an offer,

wherein the offer is one of the active offers;

selecting, by the computer based system and in response to the satisfying, the offer;

linking, by the computer based system and in response to the selecting, the offer with the registration identifier;

associating, by the computer based system and in response to the linking with the registration identifier, the offer with the transaction account based on the registration identifier;

determining, by the computer based system, an amount of a reward based on the offer parameters; and

crediting, by the computer based system, the amount of the reward to the transaction account in response to the transaction information satisfying transaction criteria.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting, by the computer based system, the amount of the available credit for the transaction account, in response to the crediting the reward.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating, by the computer based system, the transaction account with the rewards program in response to receiving the transaction account identifying information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the registration identifier is assigned to the transaction account in response to associating the transaction account with the rewards program.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer is provided to the user via an electronic communication.

6. The method of claim 1, the offer is coupon-less.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein an indicator of the amount of the reward is shown on a statement in connection with the transaction.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward is loyalty points.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward has a monetary value.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction information relates to at least one of authorization information, payment information, settlement information, dispute information or acquirer information.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the computer based system, a debit and a credit associated with the reward.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying, by the computer based system, a debit to a merchant account for the merchant associated with the transaction.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward has a cost and wherein the cost is associated with the merchant.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction information is a record of charge.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the computer based system, a return credit to the transaction account in response to a return; and

determining, by the computer based system, that the return relates to transaction information for which a rebate credit was provided, wherein in response to the return relating to the transaction information for which the reward was provided, debiting the transaction account by at least a portion of the amount of the reward.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining step comprises:

searching, by the computer based system, for the transaction information for the transaction made with the merchant, wherein the transaction information includes a transaction date occurring within a given time period prior to a date of the return; and

in response to the transaction information being found, identifying that the reward was provided in relation to the transaction.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward is at least one of a discount or a rebate.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer based system is operated by at least one of the transaction account issuer, a loyalty program provider, or an acquirer.

19. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer based system, causes the computer based system to perform a method comprising:

associating, by a reward card engine of the computer based system, a registration identifier with a transaction account,

wherein the transaction account is associated with a rewards program based on transaction account identifying information and the transaction account satisfying eligibility criteria, and

wherein the registration identifier indicates that the transaction account is associated with the rewards program;

creating, by an offer registration system of the computer based system , active offers in response to receiving offer parameters and merchant information from one or more merchants,

wherein the active offers and the offer parameters are stored in an offer database;

associating, by the offer registration system of the computer based system, the active offers with the transaction account,

wherein the active offers are associated with the transaction account based on the offer parameters;

receiving, by the computer based system, transaction information for a transaction at the merchant;

determining, by the computer based system, that the transaction information is associated with the registration identifier;

determining, by the computer based system, that the transaction is associated with the transaction account and the rewards program based on the registration identifier and the transaction information;

authorizing, by the computer based system, the transaction with the merchant,

wherein the authorization is based on an amount of available credit associated with the transaction account;

reducing, by the computer based system, the amount of available credit for the transaction account by a transaction amount included with the authorization;

receiving, by the computer based system, the transaction information for the transaction from the merchant as part of a settlement operation for the transaction between the merchant and a transaction account issuer;

determining, by the computer based system, the merchant from which the transaction was initiated;

generating, by the computer based system and in response to the settlement operation, a list of the one or more merchants with the active offers which is a subset of the active offers from the one or more merchants;

analyzing, by the computer based system, the merchant against the list of the one or more merchants with the active offers;

analyzing, by the computer based system, the transaction information to determine that the transaction satisfies the offer parameters for an offer,

wherein the offer is one of the active offers;

selecting, by the computer based system and in response to the satisfying, the offer;

linking, by the computer based system and in response to the selecting, the offer with the registration identifier;

associating, by the computer based system and in response to the linking with the registration identifier, the offer with the transaction account based on the registration identifier;

determining, by the computer based system, an amount of a reward based on the offer parameters; and

crediting, by the computer based system, the amount of the reward to the transaction account in response to the transaction information satisfying transaction criteria.

20. A system comprising:

a processor;

a tangible, non-transitory memory communicating with the processor; and

the processor, when executing a computer program, is configured to perform operations comprising;

associating, by a reward card engine of the processor, a registration identifier with a transaction account,

wherein the transaction account is associated with a rewards program based on transaction account identifying information and the transaction account satisfying eligibility criteria, and

wherein the registration identifier indicates that the transaction account is associated with the rewards program;

creating, by an offer registration system of the processor , active offers in response to receiving offer parameters and merchant information from one or more merchants,

wherein the active offers and the offer parameters are stored in an offer database;

associating, by the offer registration system of the processor, the active offers with the transaction account,

wherein the active offers are associated with the transaction account based on the offer parameters;

receiving, by the processor, transaction information for a transaction at the merchant;

determining, by the processor, that the transaction information is associated with the registration identifier;

determining, by the processor, that the transaction is associated with the transaction account and the rewards program based on the registration identifier and the transaction information;

authorizing, by the processor, the transaction with the merchant,

wherein the authorization is based on an amount of available credit associated with the transaction account;

reducing, by the processor, the amount of available credit for the transaction account by a transaction amount included with the authorization;

receiving, by the processor, the transaction information for the transaction from the merchant as part of a settlement operation for the transaction between the merchant and a transaction account issuer;

determining, by the processor, the merchant from which the transaction was initiated;

generating, by the processor and in response to the settlement operation, a list of the one or more merchants with the active offers which is a subset of the active offers from the one or more merchants;

analyzing, by the processor, the merchant against the list of the one or more merchants with the active offers;

analyzing, by the processor, the transaction information to determine that the transaction satisfies the offer parameters for an offer,

wherein the offer is one of the active offers;

selecting, by the processor and in response to the satisfying, the offer;

linking, by the processor and in response to the selecting, the offer with the registration identifier;

associating, by the processor and in response to the linking with the registration identifier, the offer with the transaction account based on the registration identifier;

determining, by the processor, an amount of a reward based on the offer parameters; and

crediting, by the processor, the amount of the reward to the transaction account in response to the transaction information satisfying transaction criteria.